Great series thus far. I have some conflicting feelings about the story, but I'm hoping I'll have a more solidified opinion as the series continues. So far, this series has spectacular (and sometimes HILARIOUS) moments that are very hard to forget, and very fun to discuss with friends and family. The sense of mystery and intruigue is a major plus, and the characters are just as fascinating as the world they live in. I also love that each book presents a new part of the world we hadn't seen yet, thus adding to the reader-rewards and gives us incintinve to keep reading.

That said, while there were some amazing scenes, they only appeared every 200 pages, sometimes 400 pages between each other. Now, I'm okay with exciting points being spread out maybe every 50-100 pages, but this definitely hits my personal limit. Everything in between was too slow for my preference, and too cluttered with scenes that (in my opinion) didn't add much value to the story. Most of these books so far have maybe 3 pages of new and exciting information, then the next 150 pages tend to reiterate that exact information over and over. I don't mind reminders in stories (in fact, I'm usually thankful for them, if I forgot a piece of information and needed to be reminded of it when it became relevant again) but these are more than reminders. It got to a point where I would flip to the next chapter, see whose character it was, and guess what would happen in that chapter. And I was spot on for majority of these chapters. My usual guess? "Hmm, let's see, they'll talk about what happened 3 chapters ago for 10 pages, have 1 page of something new, then another 5 pages reiterating everything they just talked about in the first 10 pages of this chapter. Spot on, I was right 90% of the time. It's a formula. Learn the formula, you'll know where to find the new information in almost every chapter. (I guess one could say it's a... Pattern...! Yes, I would definitely be a Lightweaver. Another example of the amazing stuff in here, too. There ARE fun things, it's just so... cluttered.) A lot of people argue he could have cut out more than half the book and still be the same story, but more focused. And honestly, I personally would agree with them. but that's a preference I have in storytelling, and Sanderson has his preference, too. Just because we clash in opinions doesn't make this story bad. As I said, it's a well written work. If you like extra fluff to your stories, this is right up your alley.

Although, I do want to note one of my main grievances: there is also a lack of CONSISTENT character development in this story... there is usually one character who is focused in each book (as in, we see their backstories) and throughout the 1,000 pages of each book, that character hits their major development milestone. Which is a great structure, and I really love that about this series. However, after that character has hit their development milestone, the next books seem to... forget about that milestone entirely. It seems like once they're in a new book, they suddenly become a different character, completely contradicting the development they established in the previous book. It's confusing.

But despite some of my personal preferences (we all have a different favorite flavor ice cream, after all), this is a great work definitely worth reading, and I plan to continue the series eagerly. (Lightweavers Unite!) ( )